Dorsten

This postcard made my day! Such lovely greetings from Polish Ladies Abroad Club co-member.....
Besides, I learned about a city in Germany which I had never been to.

Country: Germany
City: Dorsten
From: Polish Ladies Abroad Club
Year: 2016

Dorsten is a city in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia), situated by the Lippe River and the Wesel-Datteln Canal. It was granted city rights in the year 1251. These days Dorsten has about 80 thousand inhabitants. It sure looks lovely in the pictures!

Stamps

Theme: nature/flowers - tulip and marigold
Theme: winter/ snowman
Country: Germany

Gdańsk, Poland & Flowers

Quite unexpectedly I received a postcard from

Country: Poland
City: Gdańsk
Year: 2016
From: Pen-pal exchange

The old town hall and Długa Street (Long Street)

Gdansk is a city in northern Poland, situated by the Baltic Bay/ Baltic Sea.
The city was founded in the seventh century - at first it was just a small village which was home to fishermen and various craftsmen. It was granted the city rights in 1263.

The Neptune Fountain

The old town - part of it you can see in the above picture - is a place famous for its beautiful architecture. That is why it is popular with tourists and the people who live in the area as well.

We used to quite often meet there  with my great friend Krystyna. We enjoyed walks along Dluga Street (and in some other places). Among others, we also sometimes visited a great ice cream cafe which is situated there.

By The Motlawa River

 Gdańsk and its old market is very much worth visiting at any time of the year.

Stamps

Theme: Nature / flowers

Country: Poland

The Rose & The Sunflower

Design: M. Dąbrowska

Year: 2015

Frigate of Elfenbein

Theme: Art/Sculpture
Country: Germany:
Year: 2016

The frigate was created by Jacob Zeller, German sculpture and ivory carver, in 1620. The artist finished his work in the summer, a few months before his death in December.

Material used: ivory, gold and iron.

The sculpture includes carved names of the princes of Saxony, beginning with Harderich, who supposedly lived shortly after the birth of Christ, up to Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony. There are also tiny sailors, guns, chains, nails, ropes and anchors made of gold. The picture of the artist's wife, Magdalena Sibylla of Brandenburg and the crest of Johann Georg I are parts of the relief carving.

The base resembles the fountain in Rome, sculptured by Gian Lorenzo Bernini - figures of Neptune standing on a ball, Fortuna, the goddess of changing destiny and sea horses.

Johannes Jessenius

Theme: People/ doctor
Country: Poland
Design: V. Rostoka, F. Horniak, A. Sancewicz
Year: 2016

The stamp was issued to commemorate the 450th birthday anniversary of Johannes Jessenius/ Jan Jessenius - philosopher, physician and politician.

Jessenius was born to a noble family on Dec. 27, 1566 in Wroclaw, Poland. He studied in Wittenberg, Leipzig (Germany) and in Padva (Italy).

At first, Jessenius worked as a physician in Wroclaw. Later he became personal doctor of prince Wilhelm in Dresden and was anatomy, surgery and botany professor at the Wittenberg university.

When in Prague (1600), he carried out the first ever autopsy in that part of the world.

Jessenius' professional career developed steadily - he was personal physician of king Matthias (king of Bohemia); in 1616 the scientist was elected rector of Prague university. At that time Jessenius started his interest in politics. As a result of the political involvement, Jessenius was imprisoned, and finally, executed on June 21, 1621. His head was buried beneath the flooring of Church of Our Lady before Týn (Prague).

Irish An Post

 

Theme: 25 Anniversary of An Post
Design: Zinc Design
Country: Ireland
Year: 2009

The stamps are part of the series issued by Irish An Post (commercial state company) to commemorate its silver anniversary.

Ireland is on our travel bucket list. Wish we could go there together some day. Besides, it would be great if we could escape the Texas heat and spend the summer in Ireland or Scotland.

You can find out more about the history of An Post here.

Spain & Football

Theme: Country/Spain
Year: 2015

This stamp reminds me of EURO 2012 (European Football) Championships. Poland and Ukraine were co-hosts of the events (from June 8 till July 1) and I still lived in Poland then.

All the time of the tournament was quite amazing - mostly everybody got crazy about it. Almost each city of our region had their football fan zones, where people gathered to watch the matches and had fun together. You could also feel the cheerful spirit of the Championships and buy/see items with the logo of EURO 2012 everywhere. Fans from different European countries and supporters of various teams celebrated the sport competitions in a jolly and friendly way - one big family of football lovers. Groups of merry guys dressed in their state team colors (Ireland, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Greece and Poland) filled the streets of Gdansk (my area of Poland). The atmosphere of the football holiday lasted through the entire time of Euro 2012. I followed it all on TV as well. Especially when the Polish team played a match. How nervous and excited I got in front of our TV then! How stressful watching the games was!

The opening match: Poland vs Greece

PGE Arena: stadium in Gdańsk

Spain won EURO 2012 and it was their third champions title. The best player of the championships was Spanish player Andres Iniesta.

Spanish team - winners of EURO 2012

At that time I bought two EURO keepsakes for my husband - a glass stein and a jersey of the Polish team (which I posted to Texas of course).

The flowers in the pattern symbolize the Championships stadiums - notice the golden PGE Arena of Gdansk

Soon, the EURO 2016 will take place, but it will not be the same as my EURO 2012. I think you can only truly experience the event if you are where it is being held.

EURO 2012 photos:
1. By Pawel Nurkowski (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
2. (PGE Arena) By Piotr Drabik (Flickr: DSCF7913) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
3. Football.ua [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Denmark

Theme: Fairy Tales/Andersen
Design: Shen Jiahong / Martin Mörck
Country: Denmark
Year: 2012

The picture is an illustration to the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen "Hvad fatter gør, det er altid det rigtige" ('What the Old Man Does is Always Right'- click on the title to read the story).

I have been to Denmark twice - last time it was in 1991, ages ago. Well, in the previous century :-). I stayed at my friends, natives of Denmark, who did make my stay very enjoyable and unforgettable as well. They showed me the country - quite a few cities and various tourists attractions, including Copenhagen, Arhus, Aalborg, Fårup Sommerland (water park and amusement park), Skagen - a picturesqe village - the place where Skagerrak meets Kattegat, and many more.



I loved the climate there - a bit unpredictable but very refreshing. I loved the people - I also met some of my friends' neighbors and relatives.
Wish we could meet again. Soon.